All That Glitters Ch. 64

The pair stepped up to the podium and Mind-Ur spoke. "Hello, I am Mind-Ur. It is quite an honour to have our first ever Ur Class Supply Ship named after me. I wanted the ship to be named the Caye-Ur who is responsible for all of the wealth that the House of Ur Trading Company has brought our House. However, she would not permit that, claiming her name for the second ship.

"We already had one ship, SSP The Piscium, named after the System in which we now live. But we were worried about the size of the Piscium, which is a Stern Class Supply ship, large, but not large enough for our needs.

"Because of the great distances between our realms, it was decided that a larger ship would be needed and we commissioned this ship and its class.

"This ship will be dedicated to trade with the Byandi Realm. We hope that by the end of this year, we will have one of these ships dedicated to each of the other races, except the Djinaëte, who have their own large ships.

"Eventually, Pallanders hopes to commission one Ur Class Ship dedicated to every planet in the Greater Community. We, the House of Ur Trading Company, will not be able to build so many ships. So the ship type will be made available to the Greater Community once we have enough ships for our own needs.

"Now, the reason for which we are all here. Caye-Ur, Mylat Alafka, if you would assist me please?"

The three stepped up onto the platform with the lever on it.

"I name this ship, The Mind-Ur, first of its name and first of its Class," Mind called out. All three pulled down on the lever and the bottle floated across to impact the wall just below the name of the ship, breaking properly to a great cheer from the crowd.

The three stepped down and were mobbed by the media, panicking the Brucomma until they received a signal from Alafka to stand down. Even so, the Brucomma were very worried about so many uncontrolled people in the presence of the Mylat. Fortunately, no one tried to attack any of the three, other than peppering the group with questions for their viewers.

The Piscium family did not get a chance to give congratulations until late into the afternoon. "We are so happy for you and your first ship, Mind-Ur, Caye-Ur," Fayad stated for the family.

"It be very profitable," Ikekiya said with a smile through eyes that seemed to be looking anywhere but at the scene around her. The group understood that she was seeing the future as she made that statement. That pleased the representatives of the House of Ur.

"Thank you Ikekiya. I hope that our future ships will be as favoured," Mind replied.

"They will be," Ikekiya answered. "House of Ur Trading Company will be big company soon."

That brought a smile to the faces of Mind and Caye. "We look forward to seeing that happen," Mind responded for the pair.

"So, you said that Caye will be the name of the second ship, who will be the third?" Hanalei asked.

"The Lent-Ur. Mostly because he is soon to be mated to Shoma-Term and we want him to have a source of funds to bring to his new House," Mind explained.

"That is a nice gesture," Junelliya said with a smile.

Not long after, the family collected Alafka and her retinue and made their way back to The Trine and Liramor-23.

L-1889 The Piscium Apartments, Lima Deck, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

The next day was an off day for exercising as Kim, Ululla, and Gillaya were all away. The children were doing their staff exercises in their apartment, under the watchful eye of Saalaa. Zarreniya suddenly stopped and looked at the door.

"Madame Toussaint come, mommy. She very excited, happy," Zarreniya said as she waved her hand at the door, allowing Gwendolyn Toussaint entry.

Hanalei noted the flushed and excited look in Gwendolyn's eyes and the less than enthusiastic look in the eyes of her daughter, Annagrace. Her eyes locked with Gwendolyn's as a happy smile broke out on Gwendolyn's face.

"Really!?" Hanalei asked.

"What?" Junelliya wanted to know.

"I'm pregnant!" Gwendolyn let them all in on the secret.

Ikekiya and Zarreniya squealed happily as the adults, including the Byandi, all ran to hug Gwendolyn. They took hold of Annagrace and hugged her.

*Oh, you are going to be a big sister, just like us!* Ikekiya told her friend in French.

*She's not happy, Ikekiya,* Zarreniya noted.

*Why are you not happy?* Ikekiya asked.

*Momma is going to have a baby, she will not love me as much,* Annagrace came back with her reply.

*You are being silly, Annagrace. The job of big sister is very important. You have to help your little sister or brother to learn to speak, to walk, to do spelling, do math, so many things that are important for a big sister,* Zarreniya noted with a smile. *We will be big sisters to our little brothers. We want to help them to learn and get big!*

Gwendolyn knelt down beside her daughter. *The girls are right, Annagrace. I will be relying heavily on you to help me with your little brother or sister,* she said, giving her daughter a hug.

*You want to know which?* Ikekiya asked. Getting a nod from Gwendolyn, she reached out and touched her belly.

*You have a little sister coming, Annagrace,* Ikekiya exclaimed excitedly.

Gwendolyn pulled all three girls into a tight embrace. *Thank you Ikekiya. I hope you will help Annagrace learn how to be a big sister.*

*We will,* both girls chorused.

*Who wants tea and cookies?* Sylvie asked, getting calls of 'Me!' from almost everyone.

As everyone settled down, there was a time notice from Sylvie. "Oh, we have to tune in to the jump out of Liramor Thirty-One," she noted.

They linked to the Liramor Prime news channel covering the jump of the first ever platform purpose built with Jump Grid Technology and watched as the vessel was slowly pushed into higher orbit.

"The platform is being pushed by four Rockhounds, which actually have more power and accuracy than the tugs they were created from," Fayad explained. "They will want to get her up to around 30% light but they will be happy to get anything more than 20%."

As they watched, the media reported that the vessel had achieved 23% light. The Rockhounds were taken back aboard Liramor-31 and the platform prepared to jump. The jump field could be seen forming around the vessel, then it simply disappeared in a blast of electronic 'snow'.

Almost immediately, monitors near the site of where Liramor-31was to work from indicated that the platform had appeared almost exactly where is should have and the Rockhounds were being deployed to halt its forward momentum and to place it in its proper orbit. Liramor-31 had arrived in the Piscium System.

The Grand Hall, The Palace, Capital City, Pod-Saar, The Sharanas System

For the second Sunday in a row, it was decided to bring the new empaths and telepaths together for their training. The first training session had brought marked improvement to the Maha-Rrin students, mostly because of their boredom during the long wait for their operations. Anything they could do to take their minds off the upcoming procedures was used to do so, including their training in empathy and telepathy.

Once again, Violletiya was the lead but this time, some of the empaths were missing as they could not get away or were off the platform for various reasons. Still, they had more than enough to guide the overly large Crush.

"Hi, everyone. Now that you all have personal wrist comps, it should be easier for all to translate what is said by anyone," she said, holding her wrist up and showing her device.

The excited students all held their own wrists up to show off their new devices. The broods were delighted in having them, especially for entertainment and educational needs, though there was a distinct lack of material for the Maha-Rrin and Pod-Drann as there was still some issues with connectivity to the Pod-Drran and Maha-Rrin net (mostly the Maha-Rrin net as the House of Ur Engineers were familiar with the Pod-Drran net). It had been discussed and determined that a new computer system would be installed for better connection to the ICS net between the two nets. Once it had been properly tested, this system would also be installed on Ji-Ruhm-Oran. That would give the system a one year test as negotiations were coming to completion and it was expected that people would begin to move to the new planet in the spring of 2489.

"OK. If we all have practiced diligently, our centering exercises shouldn't take too long. So center yourselves, please, and we will begin todays lessons," Violletiya ordered.

Everyone went silent and focused inward to center themselves. Junelliya was there once again to help those who took too long but this time there we far fewer that needed her help and most that did required that help because of issues with pain.

"Now that all are centered, we are going to review the exercise from last week when we attempted to ascertain the feelings of those around us. I have asked you to sit in different locations this week from last week so that you have new people, other than your families, to focus on. Let's begins..." Violletiya commanded.

The students went through the exercise and most found it much easier this time than the previous week even though they had new people to scan. They were quite pleased with themselves.

"Well, it looks like most of you followed the instructions from the Toolend to help improve your mental focus," Violletiya indicated. "That helped a great deal, didn't it?" Violletiya asked, getting agreement from the students. "There are some of you that are still having problems and that is normal. It can take several tries to succeed at new techniques in empathy and it can take a great deal of time to succeed at telepathy. So don't let yourselves get discouraged if at first you do not succeed. Just keep trying. As we humans say; if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

"Now, I want all the empaths to link hands and repeat the exercise, however, this time, I want you to look for the feelings not with the person next to you but two people down from you to your left," Violletiya ordered. "Initially, this can be a difficult exercise, but it can also be quite fun to do because you have to train yourself to look passed the person beside you to see that other person. What is tricky here is, as we get better at this task, our friends can try to interpose their feelings between you and your target, making this an amusing game."

Junelliya saw mischievous smiles all around the group as people suddenly got ideas to be playful.

"You should have kept that part confidential until they had already succeeded a few times," Junelliya sotto voiced to Violletiya loud enough for all to hear. That garnered giggles all around the circle.

"One thing you should try to do initially is to 'piggy back' on the attempts by your friends to connect with their targets through you. You want to feel empathically what your friend is feeling without interfering with his/her attempt to connect to the target," Junelliya instructed.

This was aimed more at those empaths who were much more advanced than the majority in the circle, as this circle included a good mix of more experienced empaths. Violletiya smiled at Junelliya, appreciating what she had just done. Normally, most Crushes on Hollander's World were composed of people at or near the same level, so Junelliya's suggested would keep more advanced people from becoming bored while having to repeat techniques they had already developed.

After a bit, Violletiya noted that many in the circle were focusing hard on their attempt. "Do not try to force your way into your friends feelings," she warned. "It works better if you just let it come naturally, like happened last week."

That garnered immediate results as people remembered what had happened last week and during the practicing they had been doing since.

More of the new empaths began to connect and some of the more experienced empaths were able to piggyback along with their friends, discovering a new technique to develop.

Afterwards, Augraf, Tougrate, Malnad, and Maya, had the telepathy students repeat last week's lessons on focusing the minds. The empaths all joined in as they had found these lessons helped them focus much better.

In the middle of the practice, one of the empathic Shamot suddenly opened his eyes in surprise. He looked to Tougrate.

"May I touch your mind?" erht asked, getting a nod from the Shamot.

"This is surprising," Tougrate stated. "You seem to be developing some telepathy. It is still nascent but it is there. Keep up your practice and it might develop further. Practice later with the Shamot who are confirmed telepaths."

Everyone cheered but, unfortunately, that broke the focus of the group. Tougrate wisely ended the session there.

"Keep up your practice until we meet again next week," erht ordered...

Later that day, Councillor Petronellaya received a note from Violletiya, explaining all that had happened during the sessions. The Councillor was especially surprised to note Junelliya's suggestions and how effective they had been that afternoon.

It was a pity that Junelliya could not be co-opted to be a Crush leader, however, not being from Hollander's World, it would be to much of a culture shift for her and whatever Crush she worked with.

No, if anything, Junelliya would be better suited to being part of a Fellowship for adults or a Crush made up of the type of children she was working with now. That brought a thought to Petronellaya and she sent along message back to Violletiya.

L-1889 The Piscium Apartments, Lima Deck, Liramor-23, The Piscium System

Garnal literally burst into the apartment early the next morning as the children were doing their exercises. With the principal instructors still away, most were still doing exercises on their own.

"Mother's fourth Clutch now has an Ultar!" Garnal practically shouted, pride in her family Mutt line evident in every muscle in her body.

"Congratulations, Garnal. You seem to be a very proud elder cousin!" Hanalei remarked (only Clutch mates (children) of the same Clutch were considered brothers and sisters, those of other clutches from the same mother were considered older or younger cousins, and those from related aunts and uncles were considered first or second cousins to the family).

"Oh! Can we go see?" Ikekiya asked.

"Is that possible, Garnal?" Junelliya asked.

"You are close friends of my mother and the family, so yes, it would be possible. When would you like to go?" Garnal asked.

"Today or tomorrow if possible as we have the christening of the three President Class ships on Wednesday," Hanalei stated, getting a nod from Garnal.

Not long after, Garnal called Hanalei and indicated that they could indeed go whenever they wanted. The Asoc would be pleased to see them.

The Crèche Swamp of the >Clot< (Imperial Palace), Asoc Shall (The Asoc's City), AsocAR, The Asocan Realm, 364 Light Years from Terra

The Asoc had met the family at the >Clot's< shuttle port and excitedly brought them to the Crèche. She entered the nursery swamp and almost immediately, her little family was there, though they were not so little anymore. All had grown their arms and legs and now looked like miniature versions of their parents.

One boldly stepped out of the water and approached the family, looking at them curiously.

"Biz Ikekiya Mutt Piscium, Shamot," Ikekiya told it, giving the hand sign of one older to one younger and one of a superior status to one of lower.

Biz Zarreniya Mutt Piscium, Shamot," Zarreniya repeated her sister's moves and then waited patiently for the Ultar.

"Takkett, Shamot," that brought the negative head motion from both the girls.

"You Takkett Mutt Herrtt, Ultar," Zarreniya indicated and gave the hand sign for Takkett to repeat what she had said.

Takkett stumbled a bit over her name, and didn't want to say Ultar, but eventually she got it right, including the proper hand sign for one younger/inferior in position to one older/superior in position. The two girls stepped forward and rubbed their faces against either cheek of Takkett's jaw, who rumbled her surprise. Takkett was the same height as the girls now it was easy for them to do this, though not for long, as she would quickly grow in height.

"Well done, Takkett," Ikekiya praised her, getting snapping of the jaws from Takkett (a sign of pleasure among Asocans).

Another of the clutch stepped out of the swamp and touched her chest. "Ultar," she said. Ikekiya made a dismissive motion of her hand which basically told the Ultar that she was 'uneducated', a scathing rebuke for the little Asocan.

With her lower jaw open and twitching the little Asocan suddenly found her composure. Clamping her mouth shut, she raised herself to her tallest and tapped her chest again. "Ummatt," she said.

"Finish name," Zarreniya snapped imperiously.

"Ummatt tried a couple of times before she finally got her name right, including that she was Ultar. The girls once again stepped forward and rubbed their faces on either side of the Ultar's jaw, once again getting a happy response.

The other four slowly came out of the swamp, but they did not manage to properly say their names. Dejected, they looked down at the ground. The girls stepped forward and took their claws in their hands. "You keep trying," they told the four, "you get soon." That brought happiness back to the clutch, who all filtered back into the swamp to be close to their parents.

For Asocans, this was both a happy time and a sad time. Becoming an Ultar meant leaving the Nursery and striking out on one's own to learn to become a proper Asocan. It was a difficult time for all Ultar as they explored their world and the Asocan Society the lived in. They would get some support from their family, and more support from Caregivers, but most of what happened now, in advancing to the Shamot state, was up to the Ultar.

For the parents, it meant breaking ties with their Clutch and seeing so much less of them as they found their place in society. Most would make the leap, but some would not, never again returning to the family. Those who succeeded would be welcomed back to their parents arms, and subsequently numbered among the Asocans, once they attained the status of Shamot.

That was the proudest moment in any Asocan's life. The day they received their Damat. That prized weapon, held in awe and reverence, would subsequently take on the status of a charm for the owner. Even after they earned their >Curlat, they would hold their Damat in greater esteem, a cherished beacon of what it meant to be an Asocan.

Pallanders-4 Shipbuilding Station, HD-115153 ( Punarjanm ) Star System, 132 Light Years from Terra

On Wednesday, 14^th of April, The Trine slipped into Pallanders-4 Shipbuilding Station in the Punarjanm System. Three new ships were to be dedicated this day; the Asocan Tarl Asoc, the Harradi Harrad Gallet, and the Byandi Sanata. All were modelled after the President's ship, the NS Franz Müller, though modified to suit the needs of their respective owners and, of course, in the colours of the livery of the various realms.

They, and of course the other members of the Greater Community, could see the NS Hagrid B002, Dreadnaught Class under refit. There were comments and plenty of questions as to the size of the ship and its purpose.

As with the dedication of the Mind-Ur, the family had brought Mylat Alafka and entourage, along with Martte Garnal and her entourage and of course, the ever-present Cynthia Stewart, media darling. All of them now waited patiently to be shuttled over to the Tarl Asoc the first ship to be christened. The queue moved quickly and they soon found themselves on the new ship.